Buy or build in Urbandale.
462 homes changed hands in Urbandale in the last twelve months, at a median of $303,700 — $196 a square foot. The 4 that were built in the last two years sold at $376: a $180 premium for new. That gap is the whole question, and the number comes from the county.
What actually sold.
Source: Polk County Assessor, recorded residential sales, twelve months to 2026-07-22 — arm’s-length sales between $100,000 and $2,000,000 of homes between 800 and 6,000 square feet. Reloaded weekly from the assessor’s public bulk exports. School districts in the sample: Urbandale (320), Johnston (87), West Des Moines (48).
Live via FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, and the Polk County Assessor’s recorded sales · refreshed every six hours
Resale side from recorded Polk County sales, last twelve months; build side from metro cost estimates for this year, at this week's 6.76% (Freddie Mac). Enter an address below and the ledger re-runs against recorded sales for that street.
Buy
2 months to keys- Comparable resale, 2,400 sq ft$196/sq ft · median of 462 recorded Urbandale sales, last 12 months
- $470,400
- Closing and inspectionabout 3%
- $14,112
Build
9 months to keys- Construction, mid finish$212/sq ft
- $508,800
- Lot in Urbandaletypical buildable lot
- $105,000
- Soft costspermits, design, survey, construction financing
- $49,104
Building costs more. About $178,392 more, and 7 months longer. That premium buys you exactly the house — whether that's worth it is the next section.
Very little of what sells in Urbandale is new — 1% built in the last two years. That keeps resale prices anchored to older stock, and it means a lot, if you can find one, is the scarce thing.
42% of Urbandale owners have held their parcel more than ten years. Turnover is low; the house you want may not be for sale, which is often the real reason people build.
Where it's a record, it's cited. Where it's an estimate, it says so.
- Rates
- Freddie Mac's weekly survey, by way of the St. Louis Fed. The ledger reprices every Thursday.
- Prices
- The FHFA house-price index for the Des Moines–West Des Moines metro, quarterly.
- Permits
- Private housing units authorized in Iowa, monthly, from the Census Bureau.
- Resale prices
- Median price per square foot from every arm's-length sale the Polk County Assessor recorded in the last twelve months, by city. Reloaded weekly from the assessor's public exports.
- Parcels
- The Polk County Assessor: assessed value, year built, lot size, and the last recorded sale for the address you give.
- Cost to build
- Metro estimates by finish level for the current year, replaced by street-level sales the moment you give an address.
Talk to the right person, once.
One central-Iowa custom builder we'd put our own name on. They see your ledger before the first call.
One agent who works the neighborhoods in the ledger — and who'll tell you if what you want doesn't exist yet.
Both links send your ledger first, so nobody starts from zero.